[Reflections on the treatment of advanced stage malignant orofacial tumors]

The presence in all series of numerous patients with advanced (stage III and IV) tumours of the oral cavity has led many researchers to propose different, often highly aggressive treatments to improve the poor prognosis in these cases. The various therapeutic combinations do not show satisfactory results in terms of cost-benefit and quality of life of the patients. In addition, the series is not sufficiently homogeneous to permit an objective judgment on the effectiveness of the different treatments. A broader effort is therefore suggested for the early diagnosis of these cancers and for greater statistical discipline in assessing results.